New Tasting Notes

I tried this tea purely out of interest. I discovered from the sacred blend herbal that Roswellstrange sent me that I actually like some savoury spices in teas. The rosemary in this was pleasant, but the hibiscus and tangerine were sour and very citrus-y. It didn’t go with the rosemary at all. I didn’t hate it, but would not try it again.

This time, I dipped well into the bottom of the tin and must have gathered all the cinnamon sugar with the leaf. Sweeter cinnamon custard-like. I am not big on cinnamon really, but I am a fan of the gentle cinnamon used here.

Preparation

Got my first ever White2tea order and for some reason decided to start off by tasting the tea most likely to be a huge hit or miss. This is a tea I almost ordered a full cake of because I love orange flavor, but I am so glad I didn’t!

The smell of the dry leaves is fantastic. Musty shou smell with a gentle orange hit. However, the taste is not so good… Unlike in the aroma the orange is quite overwhelming in the flavor. I might not mind that if it was a good orange flavor, but to me it was really unpleasant. It’s a bit medicinal tasting and so distracting it’s hard to taste much of the tea underneath. From what I could taste it was a fairly run of the mill young shou, but it was really hard to pay attention to.

I brewed this gongfu style and had to leaf very heavily since there’s quite a bit of orange peel so you’ll get a rather weak brew with the 6g I’m normally put in my 120ml gaiwan. Unfortunately I didn’t get much evolution of the tea over time, if anything I’d say the orange flavor was a bit lighter on the first two steeps, but by the third it had completely taken over.

I’m not going to rate this tea since it’s clearly so far outside my tastes, but I’d warn for anyone who hasn’t had a chenpi tea: approach with caution, this may not be the orange flavor you’re expecting. I’m going to save the rest for summer and see how it turns out as a lightly sweetened ice tea.

This tea has a flavor that reminds me very much of cherry. The dry leaves have a very strong floral sweet smell to them.

1st Steep: As ball has not opened up yet the taste is weak. A get a slight underlying sweet taste. I’ll be honest I don’t know if that’s from the tea from the gummies I ate a few minutes ago. Very sure its from the tea. Almost a cherry like flavor.

2nd Steep: The cherry is most defiantly from the tea.

3rd Steep: The ball begins to break apart and the brew gets a bit darker. I have adoring the taste the rose petals provide.

Preparation

Malty with notes of bread, yams, raisins, and a hint of tobacco leaf, this black tea is delicious. (For beer lovers, the flavor reminds me of a Belgian Quad or Strong Dark.) Adding a bit of sugar enhances the fruit flavors. It’s my first Golden Monkey but definitely not my last.

Bluebird kindly sent this one along as a free sample with my Boxing Day order. Thanks Bluebird! I love carrot cake and have tried a plethora of carrot cake teas. The ingredients here seem like they would make for the IDEAL and dreamy carrot cake cup: Rooibos, Cinnamon, caramelised hazelnut, carrot flakes, vanilla pieces, nutmeg, and even pretty purple mallow flowers. I love that Bluebird actually makes the effort to put actual carrot in this blend. It sounds like the perfect carrot cake blend in my opinion, but the result ends up a little weaker than I’d like. I went with a teaspoon and a half for a mug. Sadly, I think because I’ve tried so darn many blends like this, Bluebird’s blend is not quite living up to my expectations here. The flavor is fine, but I just expect it to have more flavor than this, especially if I’m using a half teaspoon more. Overall the flavor turns out mildly sweet, spicy, cakey and carroty. But I’m surprised that there isn’t MORE of these notes here.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug// 10 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 5+ minute steep

this + maple syrup = happiness in a western brew. Even better because i can do a couple steeps of this one that way and still have delicious tea. Figured if i wasn’t drinking much today, i should at least try to get in a puerh :)

didn’t get to drink much tea today between work and appointments but i pulled this one out largely because variaTEA has threatened to increase my cupboard in both weight and teas haha. Still adore this one…it just makes me happy. Ginger, cola…really tasty blend.

I was on the fence about reviewing this tea. I bought it almost 3 years ago, the company doesn’t even carry it anymore, it’s a sipdown for me, and it’s not like any of the other Steepsters have this one. But, for the sake of completeness, I’ll write some notes.

This is a Nepalese black. It’s a bit old, but I’ve stored it well and I think the flavor has held up pretty well. As for the flavor profile, the label says: “honey, geranium, peach, sweet corn” Um, OK. I get the corn, a little of peach sweetness, a tiny bit of honey. No floral notes. I found it a bit tricky – too little leaf and the flavor is meh. Too much and it turns tannic. I know I went nuts for it in the store, but since that store is in Berlin, it’s entirely possible I had “vacation mind” and got all carried away with it. I mean, the store is fabulous (see my review in the Places section), filled with beautiful teaware and paper goods. It was really quite the experience.

Anyway, I made this mostly for iced tea, after wrestling with the idea: wouldn’t it be kind of a waste for such a nice tea to be made iced? Shouldn’t I just sit down and do a gongfu session to at least appreciate a resteep? But then the tea languished in the cupboard and I decided that it should at least be drunk, even if not in the optimal way. It makes a nice iced tea, but the exact leaf to water ratio, as I’ve said before, I found troublesome. Mostly too tannic, as I tend to overleaf and oversteep, especially with iced tea.

Well, Summer Moon, you deserved better, but at least you’ve been consumed. And you were a pretty good tea, although I think with more deft preparation, you could’ve been great.

Preparation

The wheel of fate has stopped on this blend as one of my new take to work teas, where I suspect its going to do rather well.
I have already had two cups of it, which is two more cups than I’ve had of it in the last two months, and its doing a nice job soothing the baby cough that I currently have, and would like very much if it did not grow into a grown up cough.
Keep on working at it, tea!

This is one of the custom chais I picked up from Tea Chai Te, a tea shop I found on vacation in Portland last March that I absolutely adored (this was actually the first pot my friend and I shared at the shop, and I ended up taking some of this blend home with me!) This is an herbal chai blend that is like a spicy Mexican hot chocolate; the base is delicious Guittard cocoa powder, mixed with chai spices! Despite not having a strong black tea base, this by no means is not a chai without a bite, and I can’t imagine anyone being able to take this chai plain; it steeps a very dark color, like dark chocolate in a cup, has a very bittersweet bite (much like straight baking chocolate), and is very, very spicy! This is a chai meant to be taken with milk and sugar! I like to use just a little chocolate almond milk, since then I don’t have to fuss with finding just the right amount of sweetener, since the milk already has a sweet touch. I tend to take this one with a 3/4s tea to 1/4 milk ratio, just to make it nice and creamy, balance out the spices, and sweeten out the cocoa a bit.

This is a great chai if you like cocoa with a kick! It has a rich chocolately flavor, but there is a bit of spicy heat right at the back of the tongue in the finish. There is a faint peppery note on the tip of the tongue and some cardamom notes, but the dominant flavor for me is a hot gingery flavor, which compliments the chocolate well. The tea is pretty versatile, and more or less milk and sweetener can be added to your tastes depending on how spicy (or not spicy) you enjoy taking your foods. I’m the sort of person that has to take 0-stars on my Thai food, and find this a pretty robust chai, but can handle it fine with the right sweetened milk. If you are particularly sensitive to ginger (or don’t like ginger) then this probably isn’t the chai for you. If you like spicy-choco, I’d recommend giving this a try!

I am on quest…to find the best earl grey. A lovely combo of black tea and white silver tips. Mmmm….bergamot. Very smooth & comforting. This one is kept both at home & at my office.
This one is delicious but it still makes me wonder if there is yet a better one out there still. Teople, if you think you have found the best, please share!

This is so gross! Took one sip and the rest went down the drain. The citrus and mint did not go well together in my opinion and there was a weird after taste (maybe the tartaric acid?). A definite no for me on this one.

My computer restarted and lost my tasting note! Ugh! The summary is that I wasn’t impressed with this tea. It was an Assam and okay, but not anything that struck me as special. Luckily I found it in bulk and only got a small sample.

Preparation

Got this as a tea swap sample. I do not feel comfortable ordering through people to get my products-I would rather order direct from the company on the website as I have heard too many stories of reps just taking the money and not giving the product to the purchaser. So the only way I try Steeped Teas is through samples sent in the mail from others as tea swaps. This tea tastes alright-it kind of reminds me of The Skinny from Davidstea. I can definitely taste the ginger and the lemon in this blend so it lives up to its name. I only brewed it 30 seconds in water temperature set for green tea on my kettle.